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Entertainment Review

Basis Peak

Between $199.99 and $249 at various electronic retailers

3.5 stars

I've never been a big fan of exercise. I own an elliptical and force myself to use it a few times a week, but it's always felt like a chore, like doing the dishes or taking out the garbage — but with a less immediate result. So I wasn't sure what I'd get out of the Basis Peak.

Like most fitness trackers, the wristband can measure your pulse, count steps, count calories burned and so on.

But in order to keep the wearer engaged, the Basis Peak attempts to gamify the experience through habits. Using a companion smartphone app, you can set habits you wish to adopt. But unlike most fitness trackers where you simply set goals, you can only choose a new habit after you've completed previously set ones. Essentially, you're unlocking them in the same way you'd unlock a new character or hidden level in a video game.

The first of these habits is a gimme - just wear the Basis Peak so the device can track your vitals. It's easy to put on and barely perceptible after wearing it on your wrist for a few minutes. From there, you can unlock other habits, such as goals to take 10,000 steps a day, ride a bike for 20 minutes, or avoid sitting more than an hour at a time.

It may seem simple, but it did make me want to be more active.

As for the accuracy of the tracking, I'm not sure. The step-count tracker tended to be lower than the built-in S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy S6 - but as I am not keeping track in my head of how many times I've moved my legs during a given day, I'm not sure if either app was correct. Also, the Basis Peak once told me I reached my daily calorie-burning goal while I was sitting on the couch, watching TV. As much as I'd like to think I can burn calories staring at the idiot box, I tend to doubt it.

Having a battery with a four-day charge (which can be recharged in two hours), the waterproof Basis Peak is designed to be worn all hours of the day and can also be used as a sleep tracker. In addition to being able to choose habits, such as setting a consistent bed time and getting more hours of sleep, the device breaks down your snoozing into light, deep and REM sleep. It also records how many times you toss and turn during the night. There's more information on how this works here. It's interesting, but I'm not sure what I can do with the information as it's not like I can decide to have more REM sleep than deep - or vice versa.

Technically, the Basis Peak is a smartwatch not a fitness tracker, as it can tell time and you can turn on notifications for e-mails, phone calls and calendar events – but here it falls a little short.

E-mail notifications only show the sender and subject which may not give you enough of an indication of what's in the message. While I'm fine with having to pull out my phone to answer a call, as I'm not Dick Tracy, I expect a smartwatch to be capable of displaying an entire e-mail message - or least the text of it. Also, every time a new message comes in, the Basis Peak alerts you to all the other messages you still haven't looked at yet. And when you delete messages, it will often alert you again to the unread messages you haven't got around to deleting.

But as these devices go, the Basis Peak is reasonably priced. It is currently on sale at Best Buy for $199.99 and is available at other electronic retailers for around $249. Ultimately, it comes down to what you want to use the device for. If you want a full-fledged smartwatch, there are better options out there, but if you're looking for a watch that can help you get in shape, the Basis Peak is good option.

Of course, personally, I'm waiting for someone to invent a harness that can give me a Magic-Mike six-pack while I sleep. But to each his own.